The Boiling Demons
by Lady Ymir
Summary: Present day Attack on Titan AU, where titans are vampires. Contains a significant amount of spoilers. Also copious amounts of violence, drug abuse and strong language. Expect a bit of sexual content. Also Ymir is a hermaphrodite/futa. The story doesn't focus on it but I thought I'd warn you. And of course, Yumikuri is OTP.


" _Hundreds of years ago god had left humanity,"_ were the words any child, woman and man grew up with living in Elysium. Preachers instilling awe in the populace. " _For man committed atrocities before him. For man is envious of those that are stronger than him, he struck a deal with the devil himself. Thus began the age of the Boiling Demons."  
_  
Speeches of this kind or anything related to man's second sin, the end of days, demons and the likes dominated the government funded propaganda programs.  
All day and all night, these preachers stirred up the fear of the Elysians as they started believing their own stories. These days nobody knew what was truth and what was made up. A sad state of affairs, given that the Boiling Demons in fact lived right among them.

The apex of human ingenuity, Elysium was a kingdom separated into three circular districts, each separated by a border within the state. Massive walls, iron fences, guarded rivers and in some places even mountains and other unpassable terrain cut off the rich from the poor.  
Thousands of cities stretched past the horizon, growing tighter in density as they get closer to Sina's Keep, the center of Elysium.

The Center Circle, **S** **ina** , had been the home to only the upper class citizens. Descendants of noblemen, celebrities, politicians and of course the wealthiest of merchants. The police force of Sina calls itself the Military Police, with all their men and women living within the borders of their Ring, far away from any real troublemakers of the other districts.

The Inner Ring, **Rose** , home of the middle class. Named for the fields of roses that grew around Sina's city gates during better times. The main police force of Elysium is trained and stationed in District Rose, as is evident by the roses decorating their crest.

The Outer Ring, **Maria** , where the lower class is kept. A poor people with high crime rates. Most Marian's won't ever set foot on Rosen soil, let alone pass the border to Sina, to lay eyes upon the castle in its center.  
Life is affordable, however, and not altogether unpleasant. If it wasn't for the Boiling Demons that periodically make their way into the cities, there wouldn't be too much to complain about.

* * *

Tinny rang the small radio's speaker through _The Long Night's_ lobby, as the two remaining staff members cleaned up the interior after another titular long night of excess at the nightclub.  
The male news reporter, with his voice hoarse after what must have been over half a century in front of the microphone, talked about the most recent events following a row of attempts to establish a perimeter south of Maria's border.  
" _And so, we honor these lost souls that dedicated their hearts to this cause. To make Elysium a better place for all of us. This is Roy Bergmann, we will be back at 10."  
_ With that, the radio switched to a calm jazz tune.

"Dedicated their hearts, my ass!" the massive blonde man complained as he swept the floor in the lobby, his deep voice rumbling in the club owner's ears as she lay on the floor, head right below the sink. Her left hand tapped the floor, searching for the toolbox. "Hey Ymir. You heard that?"

"Hand me the damned clamping thingy," she grumbled, growing frustrated with her inability to see the tools from her position right underneath the drain.

"You know we could just call a plumber and get it over with, right?" the man responded, leaning the broom against the counter as he stepped closer to the woman on the floor, handing her a red pipe wrench. "Also: Clamping thingy?"

Sighing, Ymir opened the wrench to place it onto the nut before she closed its jaws again, clamping down. "Can't afford paying a plumber for something I can easily do myself for free."

"You do you, 'Mir." The man gave a shrug as he turned around. "Maybe you shouldn't screw it open while your face is directly be-" he was interrupted by a loud shriek, a splash and coughing.  
" **EUUUUGH!** Oh.. Oh god. It's **everywhere**!"

Rolling with his eyes, the blonde man reached out for a box of paper towels they kept at hand in case a customer spilt a drink on top of the bar. It happened once or twice a day. How exactly this woman made the cut when the previous owner decided who gets to hold the reins in case he had no further need for this nightclub, he didn't know.  
Together, they were four people working for him before he bit the dust. All three of them more determined than Ymir to make this place work. While she did put a lot of effort into the nightclub, she was too casual about it. Taking a few shots a night herself without adding it to the tab, flirting with guests rather than serving them, and she was just horrible to some of the regulars, invasive and impolite. There were even instances where she used her pinky to pick her nose in front of customers. How she didn't get **fired** was beyond him.

He looked over at her as she got up from the floor, hastily rubbing the paper towel over her wet face, practically scrubbing her freckled cheeks with the rough paper before bunching it up and tossing the ball towards the bin. Not into it, but at it. Leaning back to stretch, her hands ran through her dark brown hair, skilled fingers tying her unkempt mane into a ponytail behind her back, all the while revealing her toned midriff.  
Well. She did have compelling arguments.

"Reiner," she said, before her golden eyes wandered past him and she gently nodded to the left. "Do your thing."  
His thing was throwing out unwelcome guests. His awe inspiring size with his broad shoulders and burly muscles visible underneath his shirt usually were enough to stop most people from even considering trying their luck with him. Seriously, this guy was a beast. His eyes were a slightly less vibrant shade of gold than his co-worker's, but they seemed more serious than hers.  
When said eyes spotted the blue and white wings decorating the uniformed man's chest in front of him, Reiner reluctantly lifted his right fist to place it on his heart. Ymir did the same, before looking at the soldier who eyed the two of them very carefully

The corners of Ymir's mouth went up as she chuckled, "No more free booze for the Wings, I'm afraid."  
"Hmh."  
"... A'ight. Tough crowd." Ymir let out a drawn out sigh as she leaned against the bar. It took a moment for her to process the things she saw in front of her. The tall soldier's eyes were an icy shade of blue, like the clear sky in the coldest days of winter. His bushy eyebrows furrowed in surprise as four golden eyes went wide with shock when the two realized why the man did not answer their salute: The right sleeve of his beige jacket had been cut off and tied up right below the Emblem on its shoulder.

Immediately they both took a step back as if someone just aimed a gun at their head. Their reaction was entirely justified with what this man represented. Before them stood none less than Erwin Smith, leader of Elysium's elite task force. Officially named the Survey Corps, people generally called the group by their more imaginative nickname Wings of Freedom. And those Wings meant business.

The air was thick with tension as they stood there, anticipating an ambush from the staircase behind them, soldiers breaking through the massive glass wall separating the office in the second floor from the rest of the club, or even just striding through the club's front door with shotguns and riot shields.  
It was to be expected, after they executed the previous owner of the Long Night for being a Boiling Demon.  
Reiner steadily inched towards the counter where they kept an old double barreled shotgun at hand, in case anyone should prove too much trouble to be dealt with by conventional means. It was an old gun, probably fifty years old, maybe older, they didn't know. Some day Ymir just showed up with this beauty in her hands, telling them their boss asked her to ' _Fetch something a business partner borrowed a while back'_ and that was it. No documents, no ID, Ymir didn't even know its last owner, since she had only met his errand boy.  
But it was still operational. And boy did it pack a punch. Given a short enough distance it would cut a man in half right above his hipbone.  
Ymir proposed framing it on the wall behind the bar and naming it Nasty Bitch, but she was overruled.

"H-Hey. You're not here to kill us, are you?" Ymir asked with her voice shaking. She raised both her hands in front of her chest in a protective manner while also taking another step back. Though the woman was genuinely startled by the presence of the Survey Corps' leader in her nightclub, she merely held up an act to divert his attention towards her and allowing Reiner to get close to the gun.  
"I am not," Erwin responded with his deep voice resonating in his wide chest. "I've come to investigate. I take it, you are employees of this nightclub. So you were friends with-"  
"Do **not** let that name come over your lips, Wing!" Reiner yelled, his hand finally reaching for the shotgun. "You had absolutely no right to dispose of the old man in such an undignified way!"  
"Did we not?" Erwin asked with his voice calm and collected, despite staring down the barrels of a shotgun, loaded and ready. "It was my understanding that citizens of Maria were aware they were forbidden from passing the border to District Rose unannounced. And the punishment for being a Boiling Demon is 'staking come daybreak' I'm afraid." he glanced over to Ymir as she clenched her fists at what he said. "Let's talk this over. I've come unarmed and unprotected. Outside this door there is no one but my driver, himself only armed with a pistol."

Her golden eyes burned with rage as Erwin glanced over at her, fists clenched so tight fingernails dug into her skin and drew blood. Yet, she knew just as well as he did, that escalating this situation would not bring back their dead friend.  
"Lay down The Bitch," she ordered in a calm fashion, almost a glimpse of defeat in her voice. Although reluctantly, the blonde followed suit and aimed the gun readily at the floor in front of him, refusing to let down his guard entirely.  
Recognizing their willingness to cooperate, Erwin lowered his shoulders and stood relatively at ease, even offering his hand for a shake. Ymir blew some air out of her nose, showing him the bloodied palm of her right hand as she shook her head  
"You wouldn't wanna."  
"Would I turn into one of you?" the soldier asked concerned, not entirely understanding the process of turning a human into a Boiling Demon  
"What? A blessed one?" she chuckled at seeing the confusion in his face "No. Not without ceremony. As for turning into an Aberrant? Only if you drink it with a big helping of bad luck."

His blue eyes went to the hand dripping with crimson blood. An unfamiliar feeling overcame him, seeing this woman treat wounds cutting so deeply into her flesh they gush with blood in such a casual manner. Did she not feel pain at all? Was this the reason the Boiling Demons were fighting so viciously? Did they simply not understand the concept of pain when they were shot, burnt or torn open?  
Would torture lead to any desirable goal, other than blood and body parts spilling over the floor?  
No matter if they felt pain or not. It was apparent their wounds were negligible, evident by the vapor seemingly oozing out of the woman's bleeding flesh.  
It's what made these creatures so damn hard to kill. Not their unbelievable durability, but their ability to simply heal all non fatal injuries they'd sustain within hours, if not seconds.  
Erwin had to admit that he was dying of curiosity to know what it felt like to have wounds close themselves, or about the reasons behind their steaming flesh.  
For a second he looked away to collect his thoughts

"An Aberrant?"  
Ymir threw her hands up in exasperation and Reiner sighed  
"Your men kill dozens of vampires each day, yet… You **do** know the word _vampire_ , yes?" Reiner asked, deeply concerned about the course their encounter would take. Luckily, Erwin nodded "Just making sure. It's an old word, means _to bite_ , I think?" he said, looking at Ymir who reassuringly nodded "Boiling Demon is a term of propaganda. We are no demons. We prefer to be called vampires. And there's two types of us."  
"Three, actually. But go on."  
Reiner squinted in her direction as she said that, her hand still raised in a beckoning gesture  
"The aberrants. Those, we don't like. The weird ones outside our cities, that eventually make it into populated places and cause havoc. They are addicted to blood and would slaughter their victims for a single drop. Then there's the blessed ones; Like Ymir and me. The old man. We're… Sentient for a lack of better words."

Sighing, Ymir rubbed her temples as she sat down on the counter  
"Aberrants, you can kill. All of 'em," she explained to the soldier. "They are beyond saving and a threat even to us. The less of those around the better, if you ask me."  
"We wholeheartedly agree on this, it seems," said Erwin, prompting a chuckle from the woman sitting in front of him. "Although this raises the question if certain vampires like… Your 'old man' as you call him, do not seek out the destruction of mankind, then why did he slaughter his way into District Rose? Could he have changed?"  
"Beats me," the two vampires said in unison, as they were entirely unsure of their friend's motifs.  
"Could've had a bad day." "Or he had a death wish." "Maybe someone was out to get him." "Lunatics do kill others just for fun." "It happens in every species. It's not the trait of a demon." were the possible explanations they both came up after a short moment of silence.

Erwin looked at them quietly, pondering over what they said. The way they put it, this whole vampire situation made some sense in a way or another. They Survey Corps was aware of the presence of peaceful Vampires within the cities of Maria, but they never fully understood what made them different from the beasts roaming the wilderness outside city gates.  
Ymir had mentioned a ceremony. Did that mean the vampires had an actual, structured society as long as they were inducted into it? Had they been hunting innocent people within the cities all these years?

"What do you know about fixing kitchen sinks?" Ymir asked randomly  
"Uh.. P.. Pardon me?"  
The freckled woman snickered at his dumbfounded reaction to her completely random question, but then explained how their sink had been clogged for a while now, and told of her lacking skill in fixing it.

In the meantime Reiner went back to putting the bare minimum of effort into cleaning the floor. He didn't feel like working if his co worker was spending her time chatting with a soldier who wasn't even a paying customer.  
From the corner of his eyes he could watch how quickly she bonded with him, pouring herself a glass of liquor as early as 9:55 in the morning. At least their guest had the common decency to deny alcohol at this time of day, little as that may mean for a glorified cop.  
As the freckled girl had finished her third shot, the music coming from the small radio died down and was soon replaced with the little fanfare of the news segment.  
"Government critics," Erwin's voice rang low after he recognized the tune, almost questioning their choice in radio channels.

"We don't disagree with **everything** you guys do. It's not like we're rebels tryin' to… Y'know.. overthrow the king," Ymir said with a slight slur in her voice from the few drinks she had. " 's just your ' _shoot first, ask questions later'_ kinda attitude towards us that we really hate."

" _According to witnesses of the battle in Finsterwalde within the Outer Ring, Boiling Demons defeated the Survey Corps' forces with only minor losses, leaving the village effectively defenseless in the face of the ravenous spawn. Commander Erwin Smith elected to give no commentary on the events, however, his second in command was available to voice her plans on retaking the village. According to these plans, the Survey Corps orders citizens of Finsterwalde to remain calm and bar their doors to starve out the assailants."_

"What is this all about?" asked the stoic voice of a blonde girl from the entrance of the club. Behind the small frame of the girl stood a towering figure, easily bigger than Reiner and Erwin, yet only half as wide as either. He gently closed the door behind him and saluted upon spotting Erwin's emblems. "Some off duty ape outside tried grabbing me and didn't listen when I told him to let go of me," the girl said, dusting her hoodie's sleeve

"I am so sorry. I tried stopping her, but he was already on the ground when I got there," the man behind her apologised to Erwin. "Is the Survey Corps here on official business?"

All eyes turned to Erwin. Ymir and Reiner just now realised they hadn't asked the most important question.  
The soldier shook his head in response, "I am here in personal interest. With a note left by Zeke." as expected the reactions to this ranged from anger to confusion. But he continued. "You may not like a member of the Survey Corps say his name since we are the ones that executed him. I understand that. But," he said, reaching for his jacket's chest pocket adorned with the Wings of Freedom. "I am not here as a member of the Survey Corps, but rather as a man concerned about mankind. And it is important that we make sense of the words written on this paper," he explained before he managed to pull a folded up piece of paper from his pocket. It had clearly seen better days, with dried blood on the edge of it and being torn around the folds from being opened quite a number of times.

"What's it say?" asked Ymir, still dazed slightly from a drink too many after a night long of hanging out with customers  
"He _gave_ you this?" inquired Reiner  
"I _took_ it. As per his request while he lay bleeding after a valiantly fought battle, I promise," he explained. "It mentions you two. And I assume **you** two to be Bertholdt and Annie."  
The blonde girl nodded in silence as she took the note from Erwin and gave it a quick look before reading it out loud.

 _November 23rd_

 _It was a cold and damp today. It did rain in the morning and the streets were covered in a layer of ice. Maybe that's why the driver lost control and crashed into that wall. Reiner and Ymir immediately jumped to their feet and pushed the car into the parking lot as Bertholdt called the Garrison.  
What a day to audition the new applicants. What a day to change my life._

 _When she walked in, I almost felt blinded by her optimistic smile. Like an angel._

 _Such a smile, I had never seen. It was contagious, I swear.  
Nobody smells like her. Only a few people have a distinctive smell like that. It was soothing, in a weird way. And it seemed so unnatural, yet I couldn't imagine a perfume like this to ever be made.  
Something about her made my heart ache, however. Why would an angel have to live in a place such as this? In the Outer Ring?  
She must have come from Sina. Nobody that had to grow up in the rings could possibly be so divine. She must be from Sina. There is no doubt about it.  
Is she hiding something? Is she truly a goddess made flesh? I can't ask her. _

_Something horribly bad must have happened to this blessed child. And it may have changed my world forever. I do not want to live in a world that can be so cruel to a true goddess.  
We're not blessed. We're cursed with eternal life in such a cruel world._

Afterwards, the handwriting of the diary changed a bit. It became more crude, shaggy. It seemed to have been quickly scribbled down with an empty ball pen.

 _I endangered my friends trying to break this curse. I am so sorry.  
Their names are Reiner, Bertholdt, Ymir and Annie.  
They are good people. They will break the curse, I am sure.  
You will need them to free this world. You need the goddess.  
I can't write down her name, I won't put her in danger like this.  
I know she can change the world.  
_

Annie dropped the paper after what felt like an eternity of silence in the room, nobody spoke although their hearts beat furiously at what these words conveyed.  
Reiner started shaking his head, while Bertholdt's gaze went to the floor in silence.

"So the old man decided to kill himself," said Annie with a distinct lack of emotion "Over a woman no less," she then added condescendingly.

"If we were mourning Ymir, I'd understand," Reiner said and was abruptly interrupted by a coaster flying towards him. He shot the golden eyed girl an angry glance. " _Or_ me. But Zeke? He's supposed to be better than that. He endangered **everyone** for a girl."

Erwin watched the four vampires coping with this information. It must be hard, he imagined, losing a friend because of his stupid actions, even risking _their_ lives as well.

Although he wanted to grant them a moment to collect themselves, the soldier had questions: Who was that so called Goddess. What were their stances on immortality, with Zeke obviously seeing it as a curse. What it must feel like to suffer this curse. He couldn't believe himself how curious he was, yet there he stood, in their lair, an enemy. And all that just to learn about these creatures that fascinated him so much that he joined the Survey Corps.  
Nervously, Erwin took a deep breath before proposing an offer:  
"Would you be willing to solve this.. Riddle.. With us? With the Survey Corps? We promise it will be worth your while."

"Fucking bastard nearly got us all killed!" Ymir sneered in anger, drawing attention to herself for insulting the man they all admired like a father. "That bitch better be worth it."

"But how would we find her?" asked Bertholdt, who was usually quiet in these matters. It was a reasonable question, however. And thus, they looked to Annie, who was known to have a certain set of skills that could become useful.

The short blonde had the uncanny ability to get her hands on anything and any **one** you could desire. You just had to name it, and she would work her magic, no questions asked. In return, nobody asked her how she did it.  
She saved the nightclub numerous times, her deeds ranging from falsifying documents to literally taking out the competition. Sometimes she affected the nightclub more directly with income due to smuggling and dealing drugs, arms and blood.

She was quiet, her eyes not moving as her brain worked overtime to come up with something to start.  
"She entered the club. The note says it. He's given us a specific date. Probably a job interview. Maybe a customer."

"Good luck finding a single guest of a whole day," Reiner responded mockingly, but Annie shook her head

"Even if she was just a customer, I would find her. But," her bright blue eyes looked at him sternly. "Can we count on your reliability as a bouncer to not let every fake ID in? I hope that number's still a single digit?" she asked, in reference to the girl in question seemingly going by a fake name. Reiner rose his hand in protest but didn't find any words, as he would never let someone with a fake ID get past him. And after years he had gotten good at spotting them. "Likely not a guest, then." she stood up and held open her hand. "Office keys?"

Ymir pushed herself off the counter and grabbed the handle of a green mug before she straightened her back, "I'm coming with. Didn't sift through the old man's stuff yet, ain't going to miss out on this."  
"You're incorrigible," Reiner grunted in response.  
"You know it!"


End file.
